Daffodils, Spicebush, and Spring Hikes

After a very rainy week the sun appeared late on Thursday and a warm wind is blowing today. Spring is coming on quickly now.

Cheery yellow daffodils are all over the yard.

Everywhere little insects are emerging with the flowers.

White daffodil with yellow center.

Double daffodil

Blue anemone bulbs keep multiplying in five or six spots in the garden.

The spicebush flowers are fully open and have been beautiful this year. They are so small and hard to photograph.

The camera has trouble knowing where to focus when I try to capture the spicebush, which has gotten so big. It is maybe ten feet tall. There is a lot of yellow in the yard, now.

Tiny red-stemmed mosses grow out of a rotting railroad tie in the garden.

Yesterday Dan and I found a new forest preserve trail on a ridge in the Cap Sauers Holdings. A crew had cut down honeysuckle along much of the path, so we could see the contours of the ridges and valleys. It was a gorgeous spring morning!

We walked by a wetland where the frogs were peeping loudly.

Mallards swam in the rushes.

A week ago, the sun came through the misty morning, as we walked around Lake Katherine.

We came across a robin with nesting material.

Finally, it got tired of waiting for us to go away and jumped down a few feet into its snug nest.

Can you hear the red-winged blackbird’s call?

Today the mute swan couple seemed to be napping on the island at Lake Katherine, so maybe they will nest here again this year.

The Great Blue Heron is back. The lake was so crowded with walkers today, but the heron found a quiet spot along the canal.

The star magnolias were blooming at Lake Katherine. On our street the neighbor’s pink magnolia tree is getting ready to bloom.

It has been gray and gloomy for so long, that it has kind of surprised me to see spring march on in the past week or two.